The Other Baby

Anna’s POV

Sandra didn’t tell me when she wanted to meet her. She only gave me an address.

I stared at it from inside my car, then looked through the windshield at the small building ahead. Something about the place felt familiar;not because I had been there before but because Sandra had mentioned it once when I was younger, although she had never explained why.

I turned off the engine and sat there for another minute. Brian had refused to tell me anything now Sandra wanted to talk and that frightened me more.

I got out of the car. The moment I stepped inside, I saw her sitting near the window. She looked tired. Her accident had left her weaker than she usually was, and seeing her like that made the anger I had been carrying disappear for a moment.

“Sandra.” She looked up, her eyes filled with emotions.

“You came.”

“You asked me to.” She nodded. I sat across from her. For several seconds, neither of us spoke. Then I asked the question that followed me though Brian’s house.

“What happened the night I was born?” Sandra’s fingers tightened around the cup in her hands.

“I knew you’d ask me that.”

“Then why did you ask me to come?” She looked towards the window. “Because I don’t think I can keep lying to you.”

My heart began to pound.

“You lied to me?” She closed her eyes.

“Not about everything.”

“This isn’t an answer.”

“I know.” I leaned forward.

“Then give me one.” She looked at me.

“When you were born, things were complicated.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means your birth wasn’t as simple as you were told.”

I stared at her. “What wasn’t simple about it?” She hesitated.

“You were born in a hospital in London.”

“I know.”

“Your father was there.” I frowned. “Brian?” She nodded.

“He came to the hospital.”

“What about my mother?” Sandra looked down.

“She was there too.” My heart skipped.

“You told me she died.”

“She did.”

“Then why does everyone keep acting like I’m not supposed to ask about her?” Sandra’s eyes filled with tears.

“Because there were things happening around you that you were too young to understand.”

“I am not young anymore.”

“I know.”

“Then tell me.” She remained silent.

“Sandra, I have spent my entire life believing I knew who I was, and now a doctor is telling me my genetic results don’t match my family history, my father refuses to tell me what happened when I was born, and you’re sitting here telling me there are things you never told me.”

She looked at me sadly.

“I was afraid.”

“Of what?”

“The truth.” I shook my head. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“It will.”

“When?”

“When you’re ready.”

“I am ready now.” She looked at me for a long moment. Then she whispered, “You weren’t supposed to be separated.”

I froze.

“What?” Sandra’s face changed. She realized what she had said. “Separated from who?” She didn’t answer.

I stood. “Who, Sandra?” She looked away.

“I shouldn’t have said that.” I walked around the table.

“No, you should have.”

“Anna…”

“Who was I separated from?” Her eyes met mine. For the first time since I had met her, I saw genuine fear on her face.

“I don’t know how much Brian told you.”

“He told me nothing.” She lowered her gaze.

“That makes things worse.”

“What things?” She didn’t answer. I waited. Finally, she whispered. “There was another baby.”

My body reacted on hearing that. I stared at her. “Another baby?”

Sandra nodded slowly. “On the night you were born.” My mind struggled to understand what she was saying.

“Whose baby?” She looked at me.

“Yours.” My breath caught. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“I know.”

“No, Sandra, it doesn’t.” I stepped backwards, my hands began to tremble. “Are you saying there was another baby?”

“Yes.”

“Another baby in the hospital?” Sandra nodded. “Were they related to me?”

She looked down. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Try.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“You and the other baby were connected.”

“How?” She didn’t answer. I felt my heart pounding.

“Were we sisters?” Her eyes lifted to mine. She didn’t say yes, she didn’t say no. That silence was way worse.

“Sandra.” She pulled away. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you.”

“Who told you not to?” She swallowed. “Your father.”

Wow! I felt something break inside me.

“Brian?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know everything.”

“But you know something.”

“Yes.”

“How much?” She stared at her hands.

“I knew you were separated.” My throat went dry.

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“You were there.”

“I was working there.”

“Then you must know.”

“I saw things, Anna.”

“What things?” She looked at me.

“Things I wish I could forget.”

I sat back down slowly. My mind was racing. Another baby? Separated? and Brian knew so did Sandra and now my DNA didn’t match the family history I had been given.

It couldn’t be a coincidence. It couldn’t. “Where is the other baby?” Sandra’s face went pale. “I don’t know.”

“Do you know her name?” She hesitated. “Not anymore.”

“Not anymore?”

“I knew why she was called then.”

“Then tell me.” Sandra looked towards the door.

“Somebody might have changed it.” My stomach tested.

“Why would anyone change a baby’s name?” She didn’t answer. This was one of the hardest moments of my life.

“Was she taken?”

“No.”

“Was she given away?” Sandra looked at me.

“I don’t know.”

“You keep saying you don’t know.”

“Because I don’t.”

“But you know enough to tell me that I was separated from someone.”

She almost smiled. “I know what I saw.”

“What did you see?” Her breathing became heavier.

“You were born first.” I waited. “Then another baby was brought into the room.” My heart pounded.

“What happened?”

“There were doctors.”

“Which doctors?”

“I don’t remember all their names.”

“Try.”

She closed her eyes.

“One of them was speaking with your father.”

“Brian?”

“Yes.”

“What were they saying?”

“I couldn’t hear everything.”

“But you heard something.” She was getting tired of my questions. I stepped closer. “What did you hear?”

Her lips trembled. “Your father asked them to keep the babies apart.”

My entire blood went cold.

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did he know the other baby was related to me?” That was a really drunk question to ask.

“Yes.” I felt like the ground should eat me up. I wasn’t ready for the answers to these questions but I had come too far to stop.

“How?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did he know she was my sister?” I was searching for every answer to believe my father wouldn’t do this to me but I found nothing to justify every of this action.

Sandra didn’t want to continue any of this.

“I believe he did.”

I thought about Brian’s face when I asked him what happened the night I was born. His fear, his refusal, his promise to someone.

“I promised that I would never speak about what happened that night.” Now I understood why he looked terrified.

He wasn’t finding something from the past, he saw hiding someone. A full blown human being.

“Why did you stay quiet?” Sandra’s eyes filled with tears.

“I was scared.”

“Of Brian?”

“No.”

“Then who?”

Who was everyone so scared of?

“Of what would happen if the truth came out.”

“What truth?”

“That you weren’t supposed to grow up believing you’re alone.”

My heart dropped. I sat down,unable to speak. All my life, I believed I was the only child. There had never been a sister, never been another name at family gatherings, never been another photograph, never been anyone to compare birthdays with.

Now Sandra was telling me that somewhere, somehow, there had been another baby.

A baby connected to me. A baby my father knew about.

I turned to Sandra. “Do you know where she is?”

She shook heard. “No.”

“Do you know what happened to her?”

“No.”

“Then what do you know?”

Sandra reached into her handbag. For a moment, I watched struggle with something inside it. Then she pulled out a small envelope. It was old; the edges were worn. She placed it on the table. I stayed at it.

“What is that?”

“Something I kept.”

“For how long?”

“Since the night you were born.” I reached for it. Sandra grabbed my wrist.

“Anna.” I looked at her.

“If you open that envelope, you can't pretend you don't know anymore.” I stared at the envelope. I thought about Brian, the Doctor, my DNA, the other baby then I gently pulled my hand free.

“I stopped pretending the moment the doctor told me my DNA didn't make sense.” Sandra released the enevelope,I picked it up. It was way heavier than it looked.

I tuned it over. There was a fades hospital stamp at the back and beneath it, written in handwriting I couldn't recognize were two words.

“Baby A.” My fingers went cold. I looked at Sandra. “Why does it say Baby A?” I got no answer.

I turned the envelope once more and there was another mark beneath the first one, almost completely faded.

“Baby B.” My thoughts rushed without permission. Reality had just hit me. There had been two and the question was not whether I had a sister.

It was why everyone had spent my entire life making sure I never knew she existed.